Boeheim's philosophy is pragmatic. Placing too much importance on a game at the halfway point of the Big East Conference schedule and then losing that game can throw a team out of whack.

The Syracuse players, however, had built up a dire sense of urgency after suffering three consecutive losses. As they gathered for a pregame meeting prior to Wednesday night's contest with West Virginia, the Orange players cited the need to end their skid.

"It definitely was a must-win game, in a sense," Syracuse guard Jonny Flynn said. "Just for our team. Not for the season, but just for ourselves as a team so we could get back on the right track. It really takes a toll on you when you're out here losing games. We refocused."

Flynn led Syracuse with 22 points, but it was the Orange's intensity on defense and relentlessness on the boards that propelled it to a 74-61 victory over the Mountaineers in front of 21,069 fans at the Carrier Dome.

Syracuse limited West Virginia to 35.9 percent shooting from the field. The Mountaineers managed to make just seven of their 27 shots from 3-point range against the Orange's aggressive 2-3 zone defense. And Syracuse outrebounded West Virginia, which ranks third in the Big East in rebounding margin, by a whopping 11 boards.

Syracuse, which had lost four of its last five games including its last three in a row, improved to 18-5 for the season and 6-4 in the Big East.

"There is no such thing," Boeheim said when asked if the Orange had just snared a must-win. "The next game is the next big game. They're all big. Every game is big. You just have to keep playing. That's nonsense."

Still, Syracuse's last win had come against Notre Dame almost three weeks ago.

"We just had to get our swagger back out there," said Syracuse guard Eric Devendorf, who equaled Flynn's 22-point output. "I think we got it back tonight."

The Orange found its swagger on defense.

In winning 17 of its first 18 games, Syracuse had held its opponents to 38.7 percent shooting from the field.

In its last five games, however, the Orange's opponents had made 46.9 percent of their shots. Georgetown, Pittsburgh and Providence had all shot better than 53 percent in beating Syracuse.

On Wednesday, Syracuse closed out on West Virginia's shooters, chased down loose balls and fought for rebounds.

"This is how we have to play," Flynn said. "At Providence, we gave up 100 points. Even though we were really playing five people, our defensive intensity was lacking. If we play like this, keep playing defense, limit their shots, get hands out to shooters, we can become the team we want to become."

West Virginia couldn't get into any offensive flow against the Orange. The Mountaineers scored just six fastbreak points and their 13 second-chance points weren't enough to offset the poor field-goal shooting.

"They're legendary for their zone," WVU guard Alex Ruoff said. "It's tough to go against. They extend it a little more. We tried to run sets against it and they did a good job of taking it away."

While Flynn and Devendorf put up the big offensive numbers, the Orange needed a collective effort on defense and on the boards.

Paul Harris snapped out of his personal three-game slump -- the junior had not scored in double-digits in SU's three recent losses -- to register a 14-point, 13-rebound double-double. Rick Jackson managed only four points and four rebounds, but he maintained the middle of SU's zone. Kristof Ongenaet, the seemingly forgotten former starter, came off the bench with six points and seven boards in 21 minutes.

"Our whole team was good defensively today," Boeheim said.

In addition, Syracuse's walking wounded of Arinze Onuaku and Andy Rautins returned and while both struggled, their presence on the court helped open up the floor for Flynn and Devendorf.

Syracuse pushed out to a 37-29 halftime lead thanks to a 9-0 run late in the half. Flynn and Devendorf sparked the rally with treacherous drives to the basket.

In the second half, the Orange used a 10-0 run to extend its advantage to 62-42 with just over 10 minutes left in the game. Devendorf and Flynn accounted for all of SU's points in the 10-0 spurt.

Thanks to some careless ball-handling and shot selection by Syracuse, West Virginia rallied. The Mountaineers closed to within 68-59 on Ruoff's 3-pointer with 3 minutes, 36 seconds remaining.

The Orange regained its defensive footing. The Mountaineers didn't score again until Wellington Smith's meaningless bucket with six seconds to go in the game.

After the game, the term "must-win" was heard in every corner of the SU locker room. From Ongenaet to Flynn to Harris. When finally apprised of Boeheim's antipathy toward the idea of a must-win, Devendorf smiled.

"Uh, it was a good win," he said. "I'll take it. I'll take every win we can get and definitely after being on a three-game slide."